Conventional link chains employed as drive chains or timing chains in combustion engines are subject to heavy wear during use, particularly in the area of the chain articulation. In addition to the use of alloyed steels for the manufacturing of link plates and link pins, the prior art includes various attempts to improve the wear resistance of the chain articulation. In addition to the use of special high-alloy carbon steels, an improved wear resistance of the chain articulation is achieved through the hardening or coating of the surfaces of the chain articulation. In doing so, tempered steels (e.g., 42 CrMo 4 or 13 CrMoV 13 9) are employed by preference as materials for the manufacturing of link plates and link pins, providing, in addition to a high degree of strength in the material and good wear characteristics in the bearing surface of the chain articulation, the possibility of improving wear resistance through a hardening of the surface layers. Such link chains are described, for example, in DE 20 2005 011 573 U1.                In the manufacture of wear-resistant link plates, only tempered steels with alloying elements such as chromium, molybdenum and vanadium are used, providing, in addition to a thermal hardening ability of the entire component, the targeted hardening of the surface layers through a diffusion process. Alloyed steels with other alloying elements are not used for the manufacture of link plates and/or link pins, since it is often the case that the brittleness of the material or the deviations in strength of the material increase significantly with higher strength values. As an example, alloyed steels using boron as the alloying element exhibit good strength values along with a high degree of hardness, and can also be easily thermally hardened; however, their use is limited to large-sized components for wear and reinforcement applications, for example reinforcement profiles in vehicles, construction parts for agricultural machinery, tracked vehicle chains, wear plates or punching tools. The publication EP 739 993 A1 discloses various alloy compositions for boron-manganese steels, along with their applications for large-sized components. Given the poor miscibility of the alloying element boron in carbon steels, the variance of the individual strength of these individual components increases quite intensely with small-sized components, which is why boron alloyed steels, in particular, are not used for components that are composed of a number of small-sized elements, the weakest link of which determines the wear characteristics and/or service life. An example for this is presented by link chains with a multitude of chain links connected with one another, for which the weakest chain link determines the service life and/or the failure of the link chain. Despite approximately the same strength, the uneven distribution of the alloying element boron in the steel, which has effects particularly in small components, can result in components whose strength varies by many percentage points.        
With advancing technical developments, particularly in the automobile sector, there are increasing requirements and pressures to innovate for link chains, as they are used as drive chains or timing chains in combustion engines. In addition to the constant need for improvement of components within the framework of the development of new engines, in light of the cost pressures typical in the automobile industry in conjunction with high quantities, there is generally a need to innovate. Moreover, in terms of generic link chains, cost-effective solutions with low wear problems must be provided.